Student Council President
by sephydark
Summary: Alfred has always found it fun to tease his school's student council president. But when one day he discovers Arthur swamped with work, he starts to realize that life's just no fun without Arthur around.


Alfred couldn't believe his good luck. The perfect chance to have some fun at Arthur Kirkland's expense (one of Alfred's greatest hobbies since he met the pissy student council president) had practically dropped right into his lap. Honestly, the guy had just left the folder he always carried with him lying around for Alfred to find.

Of course Alfred, heroic guy that he was, hadn't immediately gone through the folder looking for dirt on his fellow students (there wasn't anything juicy in there, anyways-just a bunch of forms and stuff that needed to be signed). But regardless of what he may or may not have done with the folder first, Alfred was going to do one of his famous Arthur impressions as soon as he got to one of them more populated parts of the school.

"Hey you, don't run in the halls! And you, stop smiling! We can't have anyone being happy in this school," Alfred said in his beast faux-British accent, pointing wildly into the crowd. He had situated himself at a busy intersection along what could probably be called the school's main hallway, the perfect spot from which to be seen by as many people as possible. His act had gotten a fair amount of laughter from passers-by, and a few had even stopped to watch. Alfred was, of course, basking in the attention, playing it up for all it was worth.

Therefore it was, perhaps, unsurprising that Alfred did not notice the pair of hands sneaking around from behind him until they had already snatched away the folder he was holding. He turned around and found himself face-to-face with a very angry Arthur. And it wasn't the funny sort of angry, either.

"I need that folder to do my job, so kindly fuck off, Jones," Arthur hissed at him, too low for anyone else to hear, before looking up at the crowd. "What are you lot staring at? Go on, get to class." He turned back to Alfred. "And you, don't think I'll forget to give you detention."

Arthur must have been in an even worse mood than usual, Alfred thought after he headed out of the detention that Arthur had given him, true to his word. Normally Arthur would have blown up amusingly at him, or perhaps delivered some brilliant cutting comment, but it seemed that was not the case today.

Alfred stopped as he passed the door to the student council room. If it was unlocked he could go in there and cause some mischief to get back at Arthur for today. Maybe he would fill Arthur's kettle with coffee; that never failed to get a good reaction.

Alfred tried the door and, sure enough, it proved to be unlocked. But as Alfred poked his head through it he saw Arthur still there, buried up to his neck in paperwork. Well, Alfred hadn't expected anyone to be there so late. If he was quiet, maybe he could just-

"Yes, Jones, what do you want?" Too late, Arthur had already spotted him. Now he would have to think of something to do, because he couldn't just walk into the student council room for no reason.

"I, well-" Alfred's mind was working overtime, running frantically over everything that could possibly annoy Arthur. "I came to give you this!" he said finally, plopping the remains of a hamburger he had been unable to finish at lunch down on Arthur's desk. Childish, he knew, but it was the best he could think of on such short notice.

"That's nice, thank you, Alfred," Arthur said absently, not even looking to see what Alfred had placed in front of him.

Alfred walked out of the room in a confused daze. Arthur had said "That's nice." Alfred had done something stupid, and Arthur had said "That's nice." Not "What on Earth is that doing on my desk." Not "Get that disgusting thing away from me." Not "You're going to give me a heart attack just from looking at that." Not even "Honestly, what am I going to do with you." He had said "That's nice." And then he had _thanked_ Alfred.

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As Alfred passed the window to the student council room, though, he saw an even stranger sight. Arthur, still inside, was taking a bite out of the burger Alfred had left. Arthur must have been really hungry to even consider that gold, half-eaten hamburger food, Alfred thought. But that was ridiculous; Arthur never skipped lunch. Why, Alfred had seen him eating only- Actually, now that he thought about it, Alfred hadn't seen Arthur eat in over a week. Of course, Arthur did sometimes eat in the student council room, but he didn't do it _that_ often.

At home, Alfred thought back to what he'd seen that day. Something must have been wrong if Arthur didn't berate him for his joke. Well, there had been huge stacks of paper on the table in front of Arthur; maybe he was just feeling overworked. And now that he thought about it, Alfred remembered seeing huge bags under Arthur's eyes, and the way Arthur had been sitting made it look as though he was about to collapse from exhaustion. Not to mention the fact that he had apparently skipped lunch, and maybe even breakfast. Alfred couldn't just let this stand. After all, it was no fun to tease Arthur if he didn't get a reaction.

That was why when Alfred ordered his usual hamburger for lunch he also found himself ordering a fish sandwich for Arthur (fish was brain food, right?).

"What is it?" Arthur asked, sounding more tired than anything else, as Alfred barged into the room, extra sandwich in hand.

"I noticed you didn't have any lunch, so I got this for you," he said, placing Arthur's sandwich on top of the paper he had been looking at.

"Jones, please, I'm really very busy and I don't have time for this."

"No, seriously, go ahead. I promise I didn't do anything weird to it.

Arthur unwrapped his sandwich warily, as if he thought it might suddenly explode, and took a cautious bite. Once he had satisfied himself that it was not covered in salt of hot sauce or something else weird, Arthur began to devour it. Alfred thought it was rather funny, watching the usually prim and proper Arthur wolf down his sandwich as if his life depended on it.

"Thank you, Alfred," Arthur said when he was finished.

"No problem!" Alfred flashed a grin and practically bounced out of the room.

The next day Alfred's mother forced his to go to school an hour before it started, because she had to go into work early and wanted him out of the house before she left. As Alfred wandered the halls, grumbling to himself about his mother and early mornings, he spotted Arthur pinning up some fliers.

"Here, let me help you with that." Alfred grabbed the stack of fliers out of Arthur's hands. "Where do you want me to put them?"

"Alfred, please," Arthur said, leaning his head against the wall. He looked completely exhausted.

"Arthur, get some rest. I'll take care of this."

"Put one on each bulletin board, then distribute the rest around the walls, where you think they'll be seen. Make sure to use the tape on those, not the tacks." As he spoke, Arthur handed over a box of thumbtacks and a roll of masking tape.

Alfred did such a good job with the fliers that Arthur actually complimented him, and at lunch he once again got a second sandwich for Arthur.

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This was the beginning of a new routine for Alfred. He would get to school early (when he could wake up, that was) and help Arthur with his before-school duties. At lunch he would get something extra for Arthur, and after school he would stick around to see if Arthur needed any more help. Arthur always tried to pay Alfred back for the food, but Alfred always waved the money away, saying "It's the least I could do for you." To pass the time as they worked, Alfred started to strike up conversations with Arthur. They talked about all sorts of things: family, classes, television. And Alfred learned that he and Arthur could get along surprisingly well, when they weren't trying to annoy each other.

Naturally, these changes did not go unnoticed by the rest of the student body. All sorts of rumors sprang up: that Alfred was trying to get into the student council, that Arthur was blackmailing him. Francis insisted that they had "resolved their UST," and were going out, but Arthur always said Francis was full of shit. Currently Alfred was feeling inclined to believe him.

Things went on this way for almost two weeks, until one day when Alfred came into the student council room to bring Arthur his lunch. He had woken up late, so this was the first time he had really seen Arthur that day, but already Alfred had noticed that Arthur was sitting with more confidence. Arthur took one look at the bacon cheeseburger Alfred had brought. "I believe my own meal is vastly superior to this heart attack-on-a-bun that you brought," he said, pulling his lunch from his bag.

Now this was the old Arthur back. Alfred could have cheered with delight, but that would have been undignified, so instead he grabbed one of the pieces of food Arthur had brought. "I've eaten dog food that tastes better than this," he declared as he took a bite.

"You've eaten dog food? Just proof that you'll put anything in your mouth if someone calls it food."

"Yeah, well I still won't eat your cooking!" Alfred called as he dashed out the door, a triumphant grin on his face.

To all appearances Alfred and Arthur went back to the way before, as if the last two weeks had never happened. But a shrewd observer would notice a few changes: Alfred's teasing became more good-natured, and it always stopped when the student council president had too much on his plate. And sometimes, when they thought no one else was watching, Alfred and Arthur would sit around and just talk.


End file.
